Charter school $50,000 closer to reality

Bath teacher gets grant

institution would be first of its kind in Valley.

A teacher from Emmaus is $50,000 closer to opening the first school in the Lehigh Valley -- and the second in Pennsylvania -- dedicated to a liberal arts approach to elementary school education.

Chris Hoenscheid, a fourth-grade teacher at George Wolf Elementary in Bath, received the money through a federal charter school grant program. He aims to set up a 400-student charter school to teach kindergartners through eighth-graders using the Core Knowledge curriculum, a national program that emphasizes subjects such as astronomy and abstract art alongside reading and math.

"If you provide students with that rich background that will make them culturally literate," Hoenscheid said, "they'll be able to build on that knowledge to learn more."

His proposed Thomas Paine Charter School is still in the early planning stages, but Hoenscheid hopes to open the school somewhere in the Northampton Area or Catasauqua Area school district in time for the 2008-09 school year.

Hoenscheid's charter school brainstorm grew out of a national Core Knowledge conference in February, he said. Weeks later, he and his wife, Deanne, went through the state Department of Education to apply for the $50,000 federal grant, and he learned he received the money in late June. The funds will pay for more planning and hiring consultants, he said.

Many Pennsylvania schools emphasize reading and math classes, trying to keep up with rising benchmarks on statewide standardized tests. In some cases, that focus results in less class time for subjects like science and social studies -- which runs exactly counter to the Core Knowledge approach, Hoenscheid said.

The Core Knowledge Foundation promotes a curriculum for kindergarten through eighth grade that fits in art, science, math, history, music, geography, reading and writing. Subjects for kindergarten include magnets and U.S. presidents, while second graders learn about topics including Japan, insects and architecture, according to the foundation's Web site.

The foundation counts about 130 official Core Knowledge schools in the United States. The Fairfield Academy in Lycoming County is the only one in Pennsylvania, though four other schools in the state have incorporated at least some aspects of the Core Knowledge curriculum, the foundation's Web site states.

Rather than trying to shoehorn Core Knowledge ideas into the curriculum at George Wolf and other Northampton Area School District elementaries, Hoenscheid envisioned a new institution.

"I have this curriculum that I so strongly believe in, [so] let's build a charter school to bring it across," he said.

Bill Falstich, assistant superintendent in Northampton, said Hoenscheid has told the district about his plans.

"At this time, we are awaiting his application" for a new charter school, Falstich said, adding that Hoenscheid indicated he'd file that paperwork in the fall.

For now, Hoenscheid hopes to gauge community interest with a public meeting at 7 p.m Tuesday. in the lower level of Zion's Stone United Church of Christ at 60 Church Road, near the northern border of Allen Township.